Covered employment refers to jobs that are eligible for unemployment insurance. These covered jobs represent the vast majority of jobs in Central Oregon (~95%), a good barometer for employment and wage trends. Notably absent from the covered employment are self-employed, many agricultural jobs, and corporate officers.

The annual average covered employment in 2017 for Deschutes County was just under 80,000. The vast majority of these jobs are in private businesses (~88%). The county experienced several years of strong economic expansion. There were around 10,500 more covered jobs in Deschutes County in 2017 compared to the previous peak employment in 2007 (+15%).

Over the past year total private covered employment is up by 4.6 percent (+3,077 jobs). Some of this growth is due to existing firms hiring, but we are also seeing rapid growth in new business to Central Oregon. There were just shy of 500 more private business establishments in 2017 compared to 2016.

Not only is the region posting strong job growth, but workers are also seeing substantive wage gains. After adjusting for inflation, the private sector average annual wage rose by $1,460 (+3.5%) to $43,249 in 2017. Some of this growth is due to job growth in high paying industries, but recent research also revealed that incumbent workers who have stayed employed with the same firm the past several years are also seeing very rapid wage growth in today’s labor market.

The following page has a chart depicting industry mix in Deschutes County.